Man Indicted in Illegal Immigrant Case Accepts Plea Deal
Associated Press
The last of six people arrested after three Chinese restaurants in Albuquerque were accused of hiring undocumented immigrants has accepted a plea agreement.
Feng Chen, 39, owner of Great Wall Buffet, pleaded guilty to federal charges of harboring and inducing immigrants to enter the country illegally and knowingly hiring illegal immigrants, according to documents filed last week in federal court.
He is to be sentenced Aug. 30 before U.S. District Judge James Browning, who must approve the plea agreement.
The deal calls for Chen to face up to six months in prison plus probation and forfeit $6,000 seized in April 2004 and $14,090 in restaurant funds held by a company that provides electronic payment products.
The Great Wall Buffet corporation also accepted a plea agreement under which it would forfeit $20,090, part of which includes the funds held by the electronic payments firm.
The other restaurants indicted were Grand China and China Wok.
Chen and five other people were arrested in July on a 115-count federal indictment that accused them of harboring or concealing undocumented immigrants from China, Guatemala, Indonesia and Mexico and of laundering more than $10 million between November 2003 and April 2004.
They were accused of inducing and encouraging illegal immigrants to live in the United States and concealing or harboring them for financial gain.
Immigrants had to work in the restaurants for long hours at little pay to repay thousands of dollars owed to those who smuggled them into the country.
The six people indicted were not involved in smuggling, attorneys have said.
They were arrested after a six-month investigation by Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the Internal Revenue Service.
Court documents show another defendant, Jing Qian "Ricky'' Jiang, was in the country illegally and was turned over to immigration officials last month for deportation after serving nearly nine months in jail. Jiang, 26, manager at Grand China, had been sentenced to time served.
Defense attorneys and federal prosecutor Tara Neda have asked to delay a June 13 sentencing date for the other defendants because they haven't come up with $550,000 they agreed to forfeit in exchange for plea agreements, court documents show.
Ming Yue Chen, 24, vice president of Grand China and Ricky Jiang's wife, reached an agreement for six months of probation; Linda Ali, 29, Grand China's manager, would be sentenced to time served; and Jing Song "Jimmy'' Jiang, 28, co-owner of China Wok and Grand China, and Wan Hui Lu, 47, China Wok's president, each would be sentenced to 366 days in prison.
A federal grand jury last July indicted all six on more than 100 counts ranging from harboring illegal immigrants to money laundering. The indictment identified 20 illegal immigrants by initial only who came into this country between June 2000 and April 2004.
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